To be able to give back and to contribute to the development of young footballers “means everything” to the coaches and volunteers at Caernarfon Town Football In The Community.

Over half-term we were lucky enough to visit Caernarfon Town Captain Nathan Craig, who runs the club’s community programme, and his team of young aspiring coaches as they provided fun, football-filled camps throughout the week for over 200 boys and girls in the area.

Born and raised in Caernarfon, before taking his footballing talents to Everton – whilst also representing Wales at Intermediate level – Craig told us just how much it means to him to be able to give back to the community that has given him so much.

“The work we do means everything to me really, because this is the town that taught me everything I knew about football as a youngster, before I went to Everton and played for Wales.

“To be able to do this and give back to the young boys and girls in the area, it means so much to be able to share my experience with them and there is nothing better than seeing these youngsters enjoying the game, coming through the ranks at Caernarfon and learning the game the way I did.

“We have an excellent group of young coaches on the programme, but if you go back four or five years ago, they were playing in camps like the ones they’ve just been helping us run, coaching and developing the next generation, so that is really nice to see.

“We are one club, one community, working together to do what we can to give back and hopefully the work we do is just going to keep growing and growing in years to come.”

15-year-old Kieran Pritchard is one of those junior coaches, and he told us just how much it means to him to be able to give back to his community through coaching alongside Craig.

“Coaching has really boosted my confidence, I’ve really enjoyed the experience of helping these young players learn and enjoy the game. I started coming here five years ago, and whether it be playing or coaching I haven’t missed a camp since.”

With over 30 young players involved in the camp on the day we visited, nine-year-old Morgan told us just how much he enjoys being a part of camps like those Caernarfon put on.

“This is really good for us in the holidays because we get to play a lot of football, which is something a lot of children enjoy, and we get to meet people from different places outside of school. I like football a LOT!”